The bugtracker started life as a quick hack to solve an immediate need,
and, up until the formation of javafreedom.org, has grown rather
haphazardly. Now, though, things are to be harnessed into a proper
development framework, with proper goals in mind. As it stands, here
is what is planned for the bugtracker.

v0.1.x: based on the original jsp code base, will
not be maintained/developed further.

v0.2.x: A newer, servlet/template based
implementation, currently in beta2. The following functionality is
targeted for the full 0.2 release:

1) Proper user roles implementation, controlling what
a user is able to see/modify.

2) Allowance for administrators to seamlessly manage
user roles in a project.

v0.3.x: database independence via the use of
Castor JDO. Other features planned for this release include:

1) Database independence

2) Additional fields relating to bug/issue solutions
should be stored in the db, along with details of who provided the
fix. Perhaps an additional 'comments' table is what is required.

3) Bug searching (using keywords, or text searching on
the body of the bug)

4) Uploading images/files to attach to bugs

5) Users to monitor bugs they've reported to see
responses as and when they come in.

v1.x.x: This is the big kahuna. Currently
still on the drawing-board (see the 'designs' directory of the cvs), this
version will be built atop the J2EE platform using Enterprise JavaBeans
and transactions for the backend, XML for data output (supporting many
different front ends - servlets, swing, raw xml, mobile devices),
asynchronous messaging between installations of related products,
recursive bug dependencies, and many more features.

If you are interested in helping out in any
of the above versions (and we encourage you to take active interest!), you
should join the developers mailing list, post your details and experience,
and speak to the current maintainer of this project, Manik
Surtani, who co-ordinates the effort.